


As Long As It Has Meaning

by StarSlayersFantasy



Category: Devil May Cry
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fluff, Light Angst, Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-24
Updated: 2019-09-24
Packaged: 2020-10-26 05:50:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,392
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20737253
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarSlayersFantasy/pseuds/StarSlayersFantasy
Summary: Before Temen-Ni-Gru, A Devil Hunter named Asteria meets Vergil who is on a quest to raise the demon tower.After the Qliphoth Nero receives a letter and a key in the post instructing him to go to a P.O box in the city that contains a diary belonging to his mother.





	As Long As It Has Meaning

**Author's Note:**

> Chapters alternate between the past and present.  
Past = Pre-Devil May Cry 3  
Present = Post-Devil May Cry 5

Asteria watches from an alley as two demons struggle to climb up onto the balcony of the Old Library in Fortuna, It's heavy wooden doors boarded shut providing too much for the pair of lesser demons. The streets are as always, unlit and dead quiet past midnight where the most that can be heard is a couple of stray cats having a war over their territory. But tonight the silence is disturbed by the yells of annoyance from the two creatures as they fail their task so pitifully while the full moon lights up their attempts.

Typically she would have stepped in by now and killed them, but they were providing a rather comical scene that had her suppressing her laughter. She spends most of her night out on the hunt for the monsters of the demon world. For as long as Fortuna has existed, it has always needed hunters. The Order of the Sword could barely cut a demon down if they tried these days. Asteria would spend a lot of time out of Fortuna on jobs, but she always found herself coming back.

One is short and squat with skin pulled so tightly over its body that it looks as if its innards might spew out at any given moment and a face sewed together with different pieces of skins. While the other is a tall and thin skeletal corpse with skin floating off of its body in flaps barely staying connected to the demon, while its mouth wide open in what looks like a permanent gasp of fear. 

_"Ugh, you useless waste!" _The short one howls in annoyance as it swipes at the other in anger._"Stand still and let me climb you." _

_"Climb on me? **Climb on me?!**"_ The tall one shouts incredulously and his laugh echos through the streets in a ghostly screech as he looks down at his shorter companion. _"What __possibly makes you think that **YOU** could ever climb on me? You can barely reach my hips, let alone climb me. No, it should be I climbing on you if there is to be any climbing at all."_

_"Don't you start arguing with me, you great oath. Just be quiet and boost me up there before he catches on to us being here" _ The small one stamps his feet in annoyance. 

_"Oh, fine. But next time I get to stand on you" _The skeletal one relents and swoops the little one up into his arms as if he weighed nothing and helps him onto his shoulders.

"**Ahem**" Asteria clears her throat as she leans lazily against the wall opposite the two creatures that seem to be doing their best rendition of a circus act with the short and squat little one now standing comfortably atop the shoulders of the tall and skeletal one. They freeze completely, making not the slightest bit of movement.

"You two fine gentlemen wouldn't happen to have seen a couple of inbred looking demonic creatures come running through here would you?" she ask rather casually while she twirls a jewelled sword hilt that has no blade attached around in her hands. Her hair is a deep chestnut shade that falls past her shoulders in gentle curls and her skin a lightly sun-tanned tone, while her eyes are a deep blue with flecks of gold that stands out vividly even in the bright moonlight. She wears a long black leather duster unbuttoned, underneath the coat, a small revolver sits holstered around her waist.

The two demons bodies remain unmoving abut their heads slowly turn to look at her like that of owls. Asteria and the two demons stare each other down for what feels like minutes but are seconds. The Squat one leaps off of its tall counterpart and practically propels itself through the air towards her with a scream of rage.

Asteria is waiting, and when it gets within reach, she stops twirling the bladeless hilt and swipes it up through the air at the demon. A firey purple blade erupts from the handle and slashes the demon's torso like a hot knife through butter. She sidesteps as the creature lands in a pile next to her hand, and she brings her blade up to parry the blow that the skeletal demon now brings down upon her, its sharpened bone sword slicing through the air towards her. Her sword redirect's its momentum into the smaller beast. The bone misses it by an inch before it can make another move she is bringing her blade back up in a swiping motion to cut the right arm off of the tall demon. 

He howls out in pain as the hand fall's along with the weapon it was holding onto the ground. Asteria slices her blade from its right side through to its left and severs the head from the body with ease. As the skull and skeleton hit the ground, they disappear in a cloud of black smoke. The small demon has now regained his footing after being so unceremoniously thrown down to the ground and soon begins to sprint away from her. 

Asteria's flaming blade extinguishes and becomes nothing but the jewelled hilt again, and she throws it directly into the back of the fleeing demons head. The second it makes contact it bursts back into life through the demon's skull, and it falls to the ground in a liquidy mess as it's the body now dead body bubbles away until seconds later there is nothing there anymore.

Strolling over and picking up the flaming blade, she averts her gaze to the library with a questioning look. " Now what on earth were you two doing trying to get into that old place" Asteria muttered to herself.

The Library in question had long since been closed to the public. The owner had passed away with only one heir, and they had had no intention of running the place, so it was sealed up with its now private collection of books that only existed in Fortuna. Most of them being about the order of the sword and the histories of the island. Although plenty of other historical tomes and books varying in magical essence remain there. Asteria slides her hilt into its sheath before running at the wall of the old Library and springing off of the ancient stones of the building to be able to grab on to the balcony and hoist herself up with little difficulty. She stepped towards the closed door on the balcony and gave the handle a turn. The unlocked door falls open as quietly as she can it before she begins creeping inside to the building. The fowl creatures probably woke up the whole neighbourhood, so it was highly unlikely that whoever they were chasing would be unaware of their presence. But none the less she moves with as much stealth as she can muster. She starts making her way through the oak walled corridors, going painfully slow so that old wooden flooring wouldn't creak aswell. She steps out into a large hall filled with bookcase after bookcase, and from where she stands on the first-floor balcony that overlooks the ground floor from one end of the room she can see small candlelight flickering at a desk where a man is sat with a dusty old book open in front of him. The man, from what little Asteria can see of him, is wearing a long blue coat and has slicked back white hair, but there is little else she can make out from where she's crouched watching him. 

He's there right until the candle burns down to a dim flicker. He shut the book with a sigh and chucked it onto the table and pushed the chair away from the seat, the wooden chairs scrape echos through the library, and he freezes. Asteria falls back quietly behind the bookcase shes next to out of sight before he can spot her. His head turned in her direction lingering there for a moment before he shakes his head and striding out of the room. Asteria waits a minute before she begins to climb down from the balcony. She lowers herself down from the edge before letting go and landing with a quiet thump on the ground. Asteria heads towards the desk that the man had been reading at and she picks up the book he left lying there with a curious look. It bore the name, _Our__ Saviour Sparda_. 

Asteria places the book back down before turning and following the direction he went as quietly as she can. The hallway leads round to a set of stairs that take her back upstairs to the balcony room that she entered the building through. She moves quickly to the open door only for a shift in the shadows next to her to alert her to a person standing to her side. She swings around, her hand pulling her blade from its sheath where it springs to life in a purple flame that lights up the room. A long curved katana meets it. 

The man wielding it applies little effort to the one arm strike that pushes against her sword. Asteria grasps her blade in both hands, fighting against the force of his.

"I thought there was someone in that library with me, but I wasn't certain until I found the door I made such certainty to shut, wide open. Then I knew" His smooth voice bares no strain from the sudden attack. Asteria's purple flame lights the room up, and she can now make out his feature. He is much taller, towering over her and his white hair is slicked back away from his face where she can now see his young features, although the smirk he wears as he looks down at her is more prominent than anything else. "See if it had been the two demons making a racket outside I would have heard them enter. But _you_, you were much quieter"

Asteria grunts as she pushes back and slides the blade away from his before sending a kick into his chest that causes him to stumble back with the smirk gone now and a look of annoyance seeping through the calm persona he held. 

"I must say I wasn't expecting this to happen" he eyed her up and down before meeting her eyes with his own. His bright blue eyes stood out even with just the purple flame and moonlight lighting up the room "Why are you following me?"

"Depends, why does a man like yourself have demons tailing him?" Asteria throws back in a huff of frustration. "I dealt with them before coming in here, Easy enough but the fact they were here does leave some questions."

"What business does a stranger have investigating such disturbances? The demons were weak and foolhardy. I doubt they proved no threat, so why should one even bother at that point to take the time out of their night to go dispatch them?" He countered before looking at her blade with a nod before holding his up with a spin, letting it fall back into its sheath. "Why would a woman be out at these very early hours of the morning? Fighting monsters on the streets of Fortuna no less?"

She lets her sword extinguish with a puff before she slides the handle back into its place on her belt. "The goings-on of demons interest me very much, see. Especially when I so diligently cut them down wherever they arise, so my question remains."

"A Devil Hunter?" He scoffs at the idea "I guess if there's one thing Fortuna doesn't lack in is its righteous lackeys so desperate to prove themselves" 

"I'm not doing it for anyone but myself, And righteous isn't the word I'd use" She hisses in response. "Now tell me, stranger. Why were they after you?"

He chooses his words carefully, and for a second, it looks like he's going to give her an actual answer "I couldn't possibly say. Maybe they are just fans of literature like myself." 

Asteria's brow raises incredulously as she speaks "I saw what you were reading, What does a foreigner like you have such an interest in Sparda for?"

"Oh, it must be pretty good for those illiterate creatures to be after it as well" She added as a side thought.

"Foreigner? I suppose it would sound like that. My father lived in this city for many years before he met my mother. I'm just returning to my heritage is all. Simply looking into the history of my parents home" His tone is casual, but Asteria can hear the subtle hints of a lie in his voice. He leans onto the wall next to him with an aura of self-importance. "Why demons would be tailing me I haven't the faintest clue"

"Oh really?" she rolls her eyes.

" Who are you? _De__vil Hunter_ " he asks curiously.

"A concerned citizen" She shoots back sarcastically a grin appearing on her face "You?"

"A tourist" he grins back at her. She knows that she will get little in the way of answers from him. "I take it that you know a fair bit of this cities history if your one of its concerned citizens" He inquires with a tilt of his head.

"I do. So naturally, by extension know that the order of the sword doesn't like strangers asking about their history. Especially not about Sparda" Asteria nods to him. He shoots her a smile, and he starts heading towards the balcony. "I can only assume this is why you chose this boarded up library."

"I'll admit, your assumptions wouldn't be too horribly inaccurate" He replied coyly, stopping to look at her. 

"You know if you told me what you were after I might be able to help" Asteria suggests "Within reason of course"

"I think I can manage on my own for now" He stared at her eyes once more before nodding in return "I'll be seeing you around, _Devil Hunter _" He stepped out onto the balcony and leaps from it into the dark streets below.

Asteria watches him go with an air of curiosity before following his lead and leaving the building as well. She had no doubt she would meet this mysterious stranger again. The thought was an exciting one for her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly, I don't have a beta so oof to all the spelling mishaps but I will re-go through the chapter when I get the chance to clear it up a bit.


End file.
